"We will be on both ends of it with armed security," he said. "We will have other contingency plans ready in the event a large number of them do show up."

Mercer added he had talked to leaders of the Cossacks and asked them to cancel the rally because of what happened in Waco, where nine people were killed and 18 injured in a shootout Sunday near a Twin Peaks restaurant involving dozens of members of rival motorcycle groups.